Shoe cover severing machine



Oct. 12, 1954 B. M. PINELES I SHOE COVER SEVERING MACHINE Filed Feb. 10 1949 Inventor-- Bernard M fineles Patented Oct. 12, 1954 SHOE COVER. SEVERING MACHINE Bernard M. Pineles, South Hamilton, Mass., as-

signor to United Flemington,

Shoe Machinery Corporation, N. J a corporation of New Jersey Application February 10, 1949, Serial No. 75,720

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to machines for severing shoe covers to permit them to be peeled from the uppers of shoes. These covers are usually applied before the sole is attached and it is desired to sever them close to the sole-attaching seam, for example, so thatall of the exposed cover material may be removed with none of it left visible in the completed shoe.

Various methods of protecting shoe uppers during the course of manufacture have been devised in order that, as in the case of light colored shoes, the uppers may not be soiled during the necessary handling as the shoes are manufactured. Early efforts in this direction were concerned with the use of somewhat loose covers made of paper-like material. More recently the practice has been followed of applying some material in the form of a spray and permitting it to coagulate upon the upper as a film which hugs the upper closely but which may be peeled therefrom after the shoe has been manufactured. This covering material is usually applied after the shoes have been lasted but before the sole has been attached. As a consequence the marginal portion of the cover extends into the crease between the sole and the upper and if it is not to show in the completed shoe it must be severed at the very bottom of the crease. Some manufacturers have employed for the severing purpose a heated knife, so-called, which in reality is a thin blade with a dull edge and the severing of the cover is accomplished primarily by heat transferred from the knife which melts the cover material thus leaving the part which covers the upper separate from the part which is between the sole and the bottom of the shoe. This operation is slow, however, and since the heat cannot be usually maintained at a uniform level there is danger of damaging the upper in the use of such a knife. A hand tool for this purpose is described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,558,489, granted October 27, 1925 upon an application of F. N. LaChapelle and in Letters Patent of the United States No. 2,102,804, granted December 21, 1937 upon an application of Charles Miller. In the latter patent there is also described the method of removing a latex coating from the relatively flat margin of the bottom of a shoe prior to the application of the sole. This method employs rotary tools such as an emery wheel, or a felt wheel, or a disk of kid-skin for frictionally rubbing away a latex coating applied to the shoe.

An object of the invention is to provide a machine by which the operation of severing a shoe cover at the bottom of the shoe crease may be accomplished expeditiously and without damage to the upper which it has been desired to protect.

In accordance with a feature of the invention, the machine has a tool in the form of a driven disk of thin, uniform, organic sheet material, which disk is sufficiently hard to be radially rigid and which flexes laterally to permit the tool to follow bends in the creases of shoes. Such bends are most evident in'womens shoes and especially at the inner end of the ball line where the higharched shank of the sole joins the flat forepart portion.

These and other features of the invention will best be understood from a consideration of the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is an angular view of the head of the machine, and

Fig. 2 is an axial section in a vertical plane through the end of the tool carrying shaft.

A disk-like tool It! is supported upon the laterally projecting end of a drivensubstantially horizontal shaft [2 by mounting means including a clamping screw I4 the head of which is substantially as large as the enlarged end portion It on the shaft. The disk is cushioned between the head of the screw Ill and the enlarged shoulder or end E6 of the shaft by means of rubber washers It, 20 which are illustrated as integral with a grommet 22 inserted in the aperture of the disk I 0. The shaft I2 is an extension of the usual shaft journaled in the bearings of a motor 24 which is mounted upon a base column 26 and is provided with an operating switch 28. On this column there is a laterally projecting bracket 30 having a sleeve portion 32 which surrounds but does not support the shaft 12. To this sleeve there is secured a guard 36 which covers the upper portion of the disk-like too-1 HP and is provided with a removable end cover (it. The nearside of this cover is cut away at 38 as is also the end of the guard 34 in order that there may be no interference with the sole of the shoe being presented to the machine.

In the making of cement process shoes the upper U is lasted and a shoe cover C is sprayed on before the bottom of the shoe is roughed. The cover material is allowed to dry and then the shoe bottom is presented to the roughing machine where such portions of the cover as lie in the marginal zone are removed, as the roughing is carried on. After attaching a sole S, the work goes through the usual processes until it reaches the shoe cleaner in the packing room and there the shoe cover severing machine is utilized to remove the cover and to permit such slight cleaning as may be needed. In the making of welt shoes the lasted upper is made ready for the application of a welt and then the cover material C is sprayed on and dried after which the welt is sewed to the insole. The usual shoemaking processes then proceed, including the attachment of the sole by stitching, up to the point of shoe cleaning whereupon the cover is removed as before. The severance of the cover must take place at the bottom of the crease of a cement shoe while with the welt shoe the position of the line of severance is similar but requires greater care because of the possibility of cutting into the stitches which unite the. welt to the insole. Furthermore, care must be exercised to avoid scarring the upper of the shoe.

Accordingly I have provided a cover severing tool which is thin enough to get into the bottom of the crease, is rigid" or incompressible radially, is flexible enough laterally so that it may be carried around the break between the tread and the shank of a high heel shoe, and which will sever the cover by a combination of abrasion and heat. The disk material, however, includes no mineral abrasives, is whollyorganic, and is smooth surfaced so that the upper will not be injured. Various sheet materials may be employed but the one which has been found most durable and to have the desired coeiiicient of friction is made from a sheet material having a phenolic resin applied to and embedding a fabric. Since such disks are usually cut out of sheets about .015" thick, by punching, it is found desirable to smooth the peripheries lightly before using them in the machine, to the end that there shall be no roughness which might tend to scar the upper. The disks for mens shoes are about one and one-half inches in diameter while those for womens shoes are slightly smaller so that this dimension is less than the average width of a shoe. Experience has shown that, with this phenolic material, a speed approximating 4000 R. P. M. will enable the machine to sever the cover Without undue danger of scarring the upper. For other materials, other speeds will be most suitable. Too great a speed with a particular material will set up enough frictional heat to melt the material.

In using the machine, an operator stands before it and presents one shoe after another to the driven tool, rotating the shoe to treat the whole periphery, and in so doing is able to turn out amuch greater amount of work than is possible with a hand knife drawn around the shoe crease. The operators are able to do 300 to 400 pairs of shoes per day and usually a single disk will serve for a days work. It will be understood that the lateral flexing of the disk is very important since it will enable it to follow the crease around the break of the shoe and that the rubber grommet and washers provide additional safety against accidental breakage of the disks. Thus the periphery of the driven disk, though essentially smooth to the touch, will abrade or rub Cir 4 away a portion of the material substantially along a line and will set up enough heat frictionally to melt the material under its point of contact so as to sever it. In view of the smooth lateral faces of the tool and its smooth periphery, there is little danger of scarring the upper of the shoe and the operator can work fast and efficiently.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A shoe cover severing machine comprising a supporting base, fixed bearings thereon, a driven shaft journaled in said bearings and having a free end extending laterally thereof in a substantially horizontal direction, a disk having a diameter less than the average width of a shoe, and means for securing the central portion of said disk to the end of said shaft leaving the peripheral portion free to flex laterally to permit the tool to follow the bends in the creases of shoes adjacent to the soles thereof, said disk having smooth side faces and a smooth periphery and being constructed wholly of a single thickness of sheet organic material, a major portion of the disk being a hard resin so that it is substantially incompressible edgewise to render it effective-to sever the cover material in the crease adjacent to the sole of the shoe without cutting or burning the leather of the shoe.

2. A shoe-cover-severing machine comprising a base having an upright supporting portion, an

electric motor secured to the base, a horizontal extension on the motor shaft projecting laterally and having removably attached at its free end a disk of thin, laterally flexible, smooth, nonmetallic, uniform sheet material rigid radially topermit it to act on material at the bottom of a welt crease, for example, said disk having smooth side faces and a rounded dull peripheral edge thereby to avoid cutting the shoe upper and having at its peripheray a coeflicient of friction rendering the disk effective to sever the cover material by combined abrasion and melting action.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 207,079 Starr Aug. 13, 1878 389,529 Robinson et a1 Sept. 11, 1888 994,504 Crooker June 6, 1911. 1,150,024 Ford Aug. 17, 1915 1,185,095 Hendee May 30,, 1916 1,294,423 Davis Feb. 18, 1919 1,314,125 Burlew Aug. 26, 1919 1,753,406 Finn Apr. 8,. 1930 1,806,862 Owen May 26, 1931 1,997,398 VVhyte Apr. 9, 1935 2,050,366 Moss Aug. 11, 1936 2,085,211 Budds et al June 29, 1937 2,116,007 Bille May 3, 1938 2,355,667 Melton et al Aug. 15, 1944 2,513,797 Hassan July 4, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 564,337 Great Britain Sept. 22, 1944 

